Fortunately, it’s easy to secure your iPhone and make it tough for prying eyes to gain access, without sacrificing too much convenience.

Today we’ll cover the various ways of keeping your iOS data private — even if you don’t use them all, some are better than none.

Set a Strong Alphanumeric Passcode on Your iPhone

When you set up your iPhone, you are prompted to enter a six-digit passcode to protect your phone. You may not be aware that you can protect your phone with a stronger, more secure alphanumeric passcode.

The next time you unlock your phone, you’ll be asked for a new alphanumeric passcode. Even with Touch ID or Face ID turned on, you’ll need to enter a passcode when your phone restarts.

Disable Leaky Lock Screen Features

Applying a strong, alphanumeric passcode to your iPhone won’t prevent your data from being revealed if it displays on the lock screen. Emails, messages, and information in other apps can contain sensitive data which may show on the lock screen when you get notifications. Other features on the lock screen can also display information you don’t want people to see.

If you don’t want anything to display on the lock screen except the time and date, you can disable the following lock screen features:

You don’t have to completely turn it off, but it would be more secure if it was disabled on the lock screen or prevented from listening for the Hey Siri voice command.

In iOS 11, go to Settings > Siri & Search. To disable Siri on the lock screen, turn off the Allow Siri When Locked option (the slider button turns white). If you don’t want Siri to respond to the Hey Siri voice command, turn off the Listen for “Hey Siri” option.

Note: The Allow Siri When Locked option is also available as the Siri option in the Allow Access When Locked section on the Touch ID & Passcode settings screen, as discussed in the section above. Turning off either option, turns off the other one automatically.

If you decide to complete disable Siri, turn off both the Listen for “Hey Siri” and Press Home for Siri options.

Revoke App Permissions

This method of securing your iPhone may affect the functionality of your apps. Many apps request access to features and data like your location (discussed in the next section), contacts, messages, and photos. Not all of them require access to everything though.

If you want to disable location services completely, so it can’t be used by any apps, tap the Location Services slider button so it turns white. Be aware that some apps, like Apple Maps, rely on location services to work correctly. Other apps may have limited functionality without the use of location services.

While location services can drain your iPhone battery faster, modern chips with Apple’s motion co-processor have made huge strides in energy efficiency since the early thirsty GPS implementations.

To stop sharing your location with family and friends, tap Share My Location and then turn off Share My Location on the next screen.

To prevent an app from using your location, scroll through the list on the Location Services screen and tap on the app you want. Next, tap Never to never allow the app to use your location.

If you don’t want to disable location services completely in an app, tap While Using the App. When the app is not open, it will not use your location in the background.

Some apps only have the Never and Always options available. In that case, if locations services are not crucial to the main functionality of the app, we suggest selecting Never.

Encrypt Your Backups

When you back up your iPhone to iCloud, your information is automatically encrypted when it’s sent over the internet and stored in an encrypted format when kept on a server. iCloud uses a minimum of 128-bit AES encryption and never provides any encryption keys to third parties.

For me always use iTunes when it’s a big upgrade. Had lots of issues with iCloud backup in the past and had to start again… https://t.co/bPWWye0j6S

To access iCloud Backup in iOS 11, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup. Make sure iCloud Backup is on (the slider button should be green). To start backing up your phone immediately, tap Back Up Now.

Once iCloud Backup is on, you can have it automatically back up your iPhone to iCloud each day. To do this, make sure your phone is connected to a power source, connected to a Wi-Fi network, and your phone’s screen is locked.

When you set up two-factor authentication, you register one or more trusted devices you control that can receive six-digit verification codes. Then, when you sign in to your Apple ID account, iCloud, or make an iTunes, iBooks, or App Store purchase from a new device, you’ll need to verify your identity using both your password and the six-digit verification code.

You can also turn on two-factor authentication using a browser on your computer. Go to https://appleid.apple.com and log in with your Apple ID user name and password. In the Security section on the main screen, tap Edit on the far right. Click Turn on Two-Step Authentication and follow the instructions to set it up.

Note: When signing in to iCloud.com in a browser, you can choose to trust that browser. However, it’s more secure to not trust it and enter a verification code each time. You cannot choose to trust the browser when signing into your Apple ID account. That always requires a verification code.

Use a Password Manager

In this online world, we all have way too many passwords to remember. We have many online accounts, all needing a password to access, and you should not be using the same password for multiple accounts.

Many password managers allow you to store more than just passwords, like secure notes, email accounts, credit card and bank account information, software licenses, wireless router credentials, and some even allow you to attach private documents.

iCloud Keychain is not a full-featured password manager. If you want to be more secure and have access to additional features, you can use a third-party password manager like 1Password, LastPass, Dashlane, MiniKeePass, or DataVault.

Make sure you protect the password manager with a strong unique password.

Use Private Browsing

Every major browser has some type of private browsing feature, including browsers on your iPhone. When you use private browsing mode, the browser won’t remember webpages you visit, your search history, or your AutoFill information (discussed later in this article).

One of the several reasons why I use an iPhone is that it's easier to use private browsing & protect your location. https://t.co/rAdeQOYero

To access private browsing mode in Safari, tap the tabs icon in the lower-right corner of the screen and then tap Private in the lower-left corner. To return to regular browsing mode, tap the tabs icon and then Private again.

Block Cookies and Do Not Track

Cookies are small files saved to your computer by almost all websites you visit. They may contain information about you, your phone (or computer), and your preferences. They do helpful things, like help websites keep you logged in, or annoying things, like show you relevant content, including ads.

Deleting cookies will cause some inconvenience when you must log in to websites again, but that’s a small price to pay to keep your sensitive information secure.

If you would rather not block cookies, make sure you delete them on a regular basis, as discussed in the previous section.

These options don’t seem to be available in Chrome or Firefox for iOS.

Disable the AutoFill Option in Your Browsers

The AutoFill feature in browsers is convenient, but it’s not always secure. If someone gets their hands on your phone, they could automatically log in as you on the same websites on which you use AutoFill.

To turn off AutoFill in Safari on iOS 11, go to Settings > Safari. In the General section, tap AutoFill. For maximum security, turn off all the options on this page.

It may be inconvenient to sign in to websites manually, but it’s worth the bother if it protects your sensitive information.

There’s an AutoFill option in Chrome you can turn off. Firefox has a Save Logins option that’s like AutoFill, and we suggest you turn that off if you use Firefox.

However, if you would rather your information not be synced to iCloud, or if you don’t want certain types of information synced, you can disable syncing to iCloud on your iPhone. If you don’t have that many iOS devices and you have information in some apps that you only need on your iPhone, you may want to turn off iCloud sync for those apps.

To disable syncing with iCloud on iOS 11, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud. Apple apps are listed at the beginning of the list on the iCloud screen. To prevent an Apple app from syncing with iCloud, tap the slider button for that app.

The iCloud Drive option below iCloud Backup, turns iCloud syncing on or off for all other third-party apps that store documents and data on iCloud. If it’s on, you’ll see a list of third-party apps installed on your phone. You can turn off iCloud syncing for individual apps by tapping the slider button for each app.

Stop Automatically Connecting to Known Wi-Fi Networks

You probably take your iPhone just about anywhere you go to stay connected and productive. Many places you go provide free Wi-Fi so you probably have a long list of Wi-Fi spots you’ve connected to in the past.

Lori Kaufman is a freelance technical writer living in the Sacramento, CA area. She's a gadget and tech geek who loves to write how-to articles about a wide range of topics. Lori also loves reading mysteries, cross stitching, musical theatre, and Doctor Who. Connect with Lori on LinkedIn.